Struggle with language issues when you’re traveling, trying to chat up a potential foreign love or doing business? Struggle no more, there’s an app for that! Google Translate on Android or iPhone instantly translates conversations & signs – even when there’s no internet connection. See real-time translations of words your camera sees. Or set up instant audio translation with a couple of clicks.
Barak Turovsky, product lead for Google Translate explains how this works once you’ve put the app in conversation mode:
…simply tap the mic to start speaking in a selected language, then tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will automatically recognize which of the two languages are being spoken… For the rest of the conversation, you won’t need to tap the mic again — it’ll be ready as you need it. Asking for directions to the Rive Gauche, ordering bacalhau in Lisbon, or chatting with your grandmother in her native Spanish just got a lot faster…
This is the first time some of these advanced features, like camera translations and conversation mode, will be available for iOS users.
OK, so your phone is a little bigger than the Star Trek badge the Enterprise crew used for the same functionality but still – you have to admit this is extremely cool.